THE FIFTH LOUDSPEAKER AND LEAFLET COMPANY

Note: In 2014, the author worked with the 5th Military Information
Support Battalion (Airborne) of Ft. Bragg, NC, on imagery and historical data for its
"Honors and Lineage Celebration." In recognition for his efforts the
author was presented with a Certificate of Appreciation.

One never knows where a new story will come from. I have written about
Psychological Operations units that went to war and others that never heard a shot fired
in anger. In both cases the units had very specific functions to perform and they
performed their responsibilities according to Army standards and achieved all of their
objectives.

In this article we will look at the Fifth Loudspeaker and Leaflet Company (5th
L&L Co) and study what they did in Germany during the Korean War while the First
Loudspeaker and leaflet Company was deployed to the Korean peninsula.

Panzer Kaserne

In July 2012, I heard from former Private First Class Leonard Mather who said:

I was assigned to the 5th Loudspeaker and leaflet Company in 1954 because of
an undergraduate degree in Psychology. Captain Fred C. Wilmott was our Commander and
second in command was Lieutenant St. Marie. We operated out of Field Marshall Irwin
Rommel's old WWII quarters on the Panzer Kaserne located in Boeblingen, Germany, part of
the Stuttgart community. We did a lot of PSYOP, and dealt with a lot of displaced persons
from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Greece and other nations where the Communists
were either in power or trying to gain power. My nations of interest were Estonia, Latvia
and Lithuania. My languages were French and Polish.

After the end of the Korean War the 5th L&L did change radically from
what they had done from 1951 to 1953. We had PSYOP teams. My Military Occupational
Specialty was 1620. I was an Intelligence-Analyst-Linguist; a jeep driver; a writer (for
pamphlets); and a photographer/printer who designed the pamphlet. The writer and I would
come up with the text. The mobile unit would make the leaflet. These could be air dropped
or broadcast. All this occurred during maneuvers and war games. I was often tasked with
greeting the NATO officers from France. After leaving the army I pursued my Masters and
Doctorate in psychology.

5th Loudspeaker and Leaflet Company 1951-1953 Booklet

I have mentioned the 5th L&L in past articles briefly and have a copy of
the unit booklet 5th Loudspeaker and Leaflet Company 1951-1953 in my bookcase. My
initial thought was to give a brief history of what the unit had done during the war years
and then fill in with what Mather had done starting about 1954. It should be interesting
to see if the mission really changed radically.

The book is in two sections. The first is The job of an L&L
Company. This section explains the platoons and sections of an L&L Company. The
second is The company history.

WARNING

This war game leaflet is designed to frighten the enemy by telling them of the
deadly Kreuzotter snake. The adder (Vipera berus) is a medium-sized poisonous snake from
the family of vipers. This same theme was also used by propaganda troops at Ft. Bragg who
prepared leaflets warning the enemy of North Carolinas deadly snakes.

About a dozen years after I first wrote this story, Dr. Jared R. Tracy of the U.S.
Army Special Operations Magazine Veritas wrote about the 5th L&L Company in an
article entitled On the Loose  Kreuzotters, in volume 10, issue 1, 2014.
Tracy says:

In October 1951, the 5th L&L Company, Seventh U.S. Armys tactical
Psywar asset in Germany, was in the throes of a major training exercise called
COMBINE Stars and Stripes reported, Enemy aircraft showered
propaganda leaflets by the thousands on Allied troops, one leaflet warning that the Allies
were fighting in areas infested by poisonous snakes 

Rumor had it that the guys were really scared about it and they sleep on
the ground. They slept in their vehicles because they were afraid the snakes would crawl
into their sleeping bags. The snakes hampered the exercise so much that German newspaper
had to assure the American units that it did not exist

A 23-man detachment from the 5th L&L prepared leaflets at the Seventh
Armys Reproduction Plant at Heidelberg. Tracy adds:

The detachment developed and printed six different varieties of leaflets during
the exercise. It also printed leaflets of six additional designs that were sent over by
the Propaganda Section. The 5th L&L produced a high quantity of leaflets (over
120,000) during COMBINE.

What are the duties of a Loudspeaker and Leaflet Company? The Korean War era
Booklet says:

The L & L Company is a combat support weapon. It does its job with
loudspeakers, set up close to the front line, hurling out messages to the enemy, and with
leaflets thrown out by the thousands over enemy troops from airplanes or artillery shells.

An L & L Company is also an American propaganda agency. It is the voice
of the United States Army addressing the enemy. Its words are as official as the
commanding generals signature. Thus, each broadcast and each written message must be
carefully prepared, must be accurate, and must conform to established policy. In a sense,
the L & L men are simply the transmitters of messages from a whole people.

The men in L&L companies are carefully picked and trained for their jobs. The
loudspeaker announcers must be experts in the enemy language; the leaflet writers must be
skilled in the art of propaganda. But it takes many more men than these to run a
Psywar company  artists to design the leaflets; pressmen and
lithographers to print them; intelligence specialist; mechanics; administrative and mess
personnel.

What was the history of the 5th Loudspeaker and Leaflet Company? I have edited
the booklet and some of the pertinent comments are:

The 5th Loudspeaker and Leaflet Company was born on 19 March 1951, when
Fifth Army Headquarters activated the unit and assigned it to duty at Fort Riley, Kansas.
After extensive training, picking up active duty soldiers to replace most Reservists and
passing a number of inspections with a superior rating, the body of the company left Fort
Riley by rail on the afternoon of 19 August, and checked into Camp Kilmer two days later.
The 5th was at Kilmer exactly one week. On 28 August, the 5th L & L left Camp Kilmer,
went to Brooklyn by train, and boarded the transport USNS General C. H. Muir. That
afternoon, the Muir steamed out of New York harbor. The Muir arrived at Bremerhaven,
Germany on 9 September.

Seventh Army Patch

The company debarked and by 10 September arrived at its new
home, Boeblingen Military Sub-Post. Their first major operation was a war game
called Exercise Combine. The company was divided, into several sections for its part in
the maneuver. The largest section went to Heidelberg to print leaflets at the Seventh Army
Reproduction Plant. This group, composed of 23 members of the Publication Platoon, left
for Heidelberg 27 September and stayed there throughout the maneuver. The group printed
120,000 copies of 12 leaflets, and, in addition, mimeographed a faked divisional daily
bulletin.

Meet Combine Connie

This is a war game radio leaflet and lists five different propaganda
stations on the back where you can hear Connies seditious messages. Combine Connie
was Dorothea Kovelas who broadcast on American Forces Network Europe. She asked the men to
visit Connies Inn, because she hated maneuvers but loved soldiers.

Exercise Combine was held a number of times after WWII. It was an aggressive
maneuver where in 1951 most of the American troops in Germany, about 160,000 strong, took
part. The Seventh Army tested the defense of the dangerous 85-mile front where the border
of the Soviet zone swings west toward Frankfurt. In the early morning, armored combat
teams of the crack American Constabulary thrust westward in a surprise attack. Paratroops
dropped near Frankenthal to secure a Rhine bridgehead and partisan guerrillas closed in
near Kaiserlautern and "destroyed" a supply dump.

In 2013 I was contacted by Anne Cioffi, the daughter of Combine Connie. She told me
that her mother had worked for the U.S. Army in Germany after WWII. She never told her
daughter much about those Cold War days. Dorothea passed away in 1988.

Veritas adds:

Connie broadcast multiple times a day on five frequencies on Aggressor Network
during Exercise Combine U.S. forces were distracted by COMBINE Connies soothing
voice which they heard several times a day on Aggressor Network, a mock enemy radio
network.

The booklet continues: All through the winter months, the Loudspeaker
Platoon had its teams in the field. The men had two jobs; learning to operate the
loudspeaker equipment and practicing making appeals. They had to get so familiar with
their equipment and so expert in its use that they could move into a position, make an
appeal, and get out again without wasting a minute of time. The loudspeaker men learned
their jobs, got acquainted with their equipment, and found out how best to use it.

Intelligence Specialist Monitors a Foreign Language Radio Broadcast

In January 1952, the company instituted a program of monitoring radio
broadcasts to train unit linguists. The Propaganda Section was designing and writing
leaflets for Seventh Army maneuvers. A variety of leaflets was finished by 1 March, ready
for production in quantity for stockpiling. Several others were produced later for
divisional maneuvers. The company newspaper, The Leaflet, furnished training for both
Propaganda and mechanical section personnel.

The presses came overseas with the company; but no spare parts came with
them. Therefore, keeping the machinery going was a constant struggle. The pressmen had to
use makeshifts and substitutes. As soon as the platoon vans arrived, in September, the men
started installing their equipment, and shelves, platforms and cupboards. In spite of all
the mechanical difficulties, the platoon produced in excess of 200,000 pieces of printed
matter from September to April. Major jobs besides maneuver leaflets included five
leaflets for a Psywar display at Headquarters and a brochure designed to assist 5th
officers explain psychological warfare to other units.

Veritas mentions the newsletter The Leaflet:

That mimeographed newsletter reported on personnel changes, promotions, current
events, training exercises, sports and other information. In November 1952, the
Publication Platoon started printing The Leaflet on the offset press using the same
processes involved in turning out actual leaflets From September 1951 to September
1952, the Publication Platoon printed over 350,000 products, mostly leaflets for
exercises

Counting the days?

Most leaflets did not
mention maneuvers because the propagandists wanted to pretend that they were fighting an
actual war. A few leaflets do mention maneuvers, and this is one of them. On the back the
leaflet tells the soldier to protect his health, get plenty of sleep and if he suspects
illness, to go on sick call. The soldier is told to exaggerate symptoms on sick call to
get more time off. If he doesnt want to go to all that trouble, the soldier can
simply surrender to the enemy where he can stay in a warm barracks.

So, it is clear that during 1951-1952 while the 5th L&L was in Germany it
mostly produced leaflets for war games and printed some newspapers, magazines and
practiced loudspeaker skills. We will now discuss the mission of the company in 1954.
Mather says:

In 1954, the 5th L & L was a unit of experts: linguists, artists and writers
who learned how best to exploit basic emotions and hardships of soldiers. Many of them
were trained at the Psychological Warfare Center, Fort Bragg, NC where the company's
commanding officer, Capt. Fred W. Wilmot spent two years as an instructor.

Captain Wilmot was a firm believer in the usefulness of Psywar in battle. He
served for eight months as Propaganda Officer, G-3 (Operations) Eighth Army in Korea in
addition to his two years at Fort Bragg Psywar Center. He believed it was not just
propaganda or force of arms that motivated a war weary soldier to surrender with a leaflet
in his hands. He believed it was a smoothly coordinated campaign of both Psywar and
military force that broke the enemys morale and his will to fight.

I remember decades later we watched television and saw thousands of Saddam
Husseins soldiers surrendering with a leaflet that guaranteed they would be eating
supper with their family soon after leaving their post with their rifle butt aimed upward.
The other side of this leaflet depicted Coalition firepower destroying those who did not
surrender. I think it proved the Captains theory.

The company maintained four platoons: Headquarters, Operations, Publications and
Loudspeakers. Approximately 90% mobile, the unit's mission was to support tactical troops
with psychological warfare in the field. During wartime, the company would be constantly
on the lookout for reports of bad food, poor readership, weak supply lines, inferior
weapons and physical hardships. These morale and supply problems offer PSYOP opportunity
to demoralize the enemy.

The Linguist section of the operations platoon helped develop the propaganda.
White is all truth and is clearly identified; Gray is truth mixed with lies and usually is
not identified; and Black propaganda is mostly lies and rumors. Of course, we never did
black propaganda. That is reserved for clandestine intelligence services. To get the
absolute trust of the enemy who reads our leaflets they must be 100% truthful. In
addition, linguists are trained to interrogate prisoners to ascertain enemy weak spots.
Other sources such as enemy documents, aerial photos and observance of enemy activities
are also used. Some of the linguists like Maurice Kamhi, a native of Yugoslavia, fought
with anti-Nazi guerrilla forces during WWII. He was an expert with the foil, and later on
his son competed in the Olympics with the foil. Two of the men were products of the Army
Language School in Monterey, CA.

Mather told me that there were a number of members in the unit who had formerly been
displaced persons from various European nations. Apparently, they were interviewed by Army
intelligence while in Displaced Person camps, and those that were found to have languages
that were in demand and other skills useful to the Army were offered a deal. After being
vetted as a genuine displaced person and not a Communist plant, they were offered five
years in the United States Army after which they would be citizens. He mentions some of
their names; Fedor Koribanic; Zygumunt Musiol; Jan Kolencik, and Joe Varory. All
apparently entered the 5th because of their knowledge and skills. What I found surprising,
is that like the in French Foreign Legion, Mather says the European recruits were allowed
to select a new name if they so desired.

Private Len Matublewski on Loudspeaker

Private Matublewski of the 5th L&L reads a script into a loudspeaker placed far
enough away from his position not to draw enemy file on himself.

Nine to twelve loudspeaker teams were maintained for field maneuvers. Like leaflets,
loudspeaker messages could also be white, gray or black

The leaflets could be on any subject as long as they lowered the morale of the
enemy. One typical 5th Loudspeaker and Leaflet printed product used in a war game
sympathetically patted the soldier on the back like an old friend and said:

Don't worry about it, Pal...The old timers say that time passes quickly in the
field. If that's true, you'll be out of the Army before you know it, because there is a
good chance you'll be spending a great deal more time in the field.

The leaflets were planned, written and illustrated in a completely equipped
air-conditioned mobile van. The van contained photography equipment and a varitype machine
with the codes for various languages. Besides the two men to run the equipment, there were
also writers and illustrators and men to repair equipment that failed. In general, six men
were assigned to a van. From there, copy and drawings were forwarded to a mobile offset
lithography press, housed in a similar van. Mather adds:

The mobile press could print in any language that has an alphabet. The pressmen
were in charge of this operation. The capacity of the machine was 42,000 leaflets an hour
printed on both sides or 84,000 leaflets printed on one side, and it could print in color.
The standard size leaflet was five by eight inches (this was the product of a very
complicated mathematical formula that determined where a leaflet of a certain size,
dropped from a certain height would land) and could be dropped from aircraft, disseminated
from a 105 Howitzer shell or left by guerrillas where the enemy concentrates or passes by.
The operation was geared for speed. After the pressman received the copy and art work, the
product could be finished in as little as two hours. The type is set on a Varitype
machine. By following code numbers, the operator can set copy in a foreign language, even
though he has no personal understanding of the language.

This machine had over 300 different type styles available and could write in 55
languages. It could adjust the space between characters, and even produce right-justified
copy.

Remember

I developed the concept and the information for a leaflet entitled
Remember that was a direct result of my undercover visits to local
Gasthauses to mingle with those military that I believed would be the enemy in the next
war game. I was quite the spy. I gathered specific names of the men and the names of their
girlfriends during conversation and jokes over fine German beer and sausage. I learned
about their unit and where they might be positioned during the maneuver. Our Loudspeaker
teams then used their names and their girlfriends names. Meanwhile, we littered
their area with leaflets that had the same general information. It must have driven them
crazy trying to figure out how the enemy knew so much about them. Remember the old saying,
Loose lips sink ships. The actual writer of the leaflet was Corporal Russell
F. Newbold. The photographer was Private William Coons and Private Smoczynski was the
offset pressman on that leaflet.

Note  A Gasthaus is a German inn or tavern with a bar, a restaurant, banquet
facilities and hotel rooms for rent.

I am worried about you

The units in Germany sometimes made German-language training leaflets. This one
shows a lovely woman thinking of her sweetheart and the text:

I am worried about you.Please, be careful!Don┤t be a stupid hero!Stupid heroes die young. I want to have you healthy and alive.Please, be careful, when they send you in the battle

During one war game, I was captured along with Sgt. Fedor Koribanic (born in
Bratislava, Czechoslovakia) after we successfully infiltrated the enemy
Seventh Army (Patch Barracks) headquarters tent. We were dressed as German Civilians on
bicycles, acting lost. The Umpires took a dim view of it; we were incarcerated,
interrogated and my 6 mm M÷lln pistol was found secreted under my left arm in a shoulder
holster. Captain Wilmot was delighted at our ingenuity for infiltration. The Seventh Army
Command took a dim view of our undercover operation and ordered an Article 15 that Captain
Wilmot delivered with a wink and a nod while assuring me that what we did was exactly
correct, but that the rules were the rules and he would have to comply with his orders.
Surprisingly, he gave us no company punishment for our escapade. Normally you would get
some distasteful duty for 14 days after such a charge.

Later on, Captain Wilmot wrote a glowing recommendation to the graduate schools
to which I had applied to pursue my MS and PhD in psychology.

I should mention that an Article 15 does come with punishment. I got one about 60
years ago for diving for lobster off the side of a Navy LST anchored off an island close
to the Chinese coast where we had a small radar detachment. Who knew the Navy frowned on
such an act. It cost me 14 days digging air raid shelters with a shovel, two hours each
evening after duty hours.

120,000 Dead Women and Children

This German-language training was written by US PSYOP troops in conjunction with
their German partners. It depicts children on the front and a handwritten letter from a
German youth on the back. The message is odd and seems to imply to the Germans that if the
Soviets attack it will be with massive amounts of poison gas. The Russian vehicles were
fairly air-tight and could operate in a gaseous environment, but I always thought that
their basic tactic would be speed; to take Germany before it could be reinforced from the
United States. In fact, when I was an instructor in a tactical course entitled
Senior Battle Staff, the students were given a scenario where they were tasked
with stopping Russian tank divisions coming down the Fulda Gap in Germany with just a few
armored brigades. This was to give the United States time to reinforce Germany. We
generally lost, but we died bravely and with great Úlan.

The text on the front is:

120,000 dead women and children due to Soviet gas attacks.

The text on the back is:

Dear Uncle Gerhard!

It's been a long time since we visited you in Leipzig. All because of the war.
Yesterday we had to suddenly go into a bomb shelter. It was cold and dark. Mommy said the
Russians attacked us with poison gas. I hope I can go outside again soon and play. I have
to stop (writing) now.

The 5th L&L also took part in various training seminars and exercises with NATO
officers. In one case they took part in a NATO psychological warfare conference sponsored
by Seventh Army. A report says:

Sixteen officers from Greece, Turkey, Italy, Denmark and Norway will make up the
special class Highlighting the meeting will be demonstrations under combat conditions
with a back-drop of battle noises, including firing. An enemy Guerilla force will be
attacked by psychological weapons, a leaflet drop, and loudspeaker assaults from jeeps,
tanks and airplanes. They will also see artillery shells with leaflets for firing against
the enemy. After the demonstration, a tour of all vans and special equipment of the
company will be made.

A Russian-language War Game leaflet

This training leaflet depicts a sad young Russian girl talking to her
soldier on the telephone. He is away at war and she is alone. The text on the front is:

Natasha is calling in vain

The back is all text:

Soviet soldierHow often do you hear from your family?Are you sure that everything is in order with your family and with your friends?Do you see them?Do you trust your leaders?

It seems odd that all with all we have learned about the 5th Loudspeaker and Leaflet
Company, we never hear of them doing any actual propaganda. That is, Cold War broadcasts
to the USSR and Soviet-bloc nations. That would seem to be a primary mission. An
individual conversant with the question told me:

One of the things I found in researching the Psywar units in Germany is that The
United States European Command (EUCOM), United States Army Europe (USAREUR) and the U.S.
Seventh Army were very reluctant to actually use these companies in any real operational
sense. Information services were handled by the State Department, covert and strategic
propaganda was handled by Central Intelligence Agency, and the Army got the proverbial
scraps. I guess, with good reason, senior policymakers and top Army brass didn't want a
Private First Class or a Second Lieutenant broadcasting some message that ran counter to
national security objectives. So, these units trained for the prospect of actual combat
operations, but were not allowed to actually conduct missions.

He could be correct. There are historical records of military conflicts breaking out
from the incorrect interpretation of what certain words meant. One can make a case that
both the Korean War and the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq occurred after the leaders of the
invading nations believed that the United States had no interest in the coveted nations.

The Hungarian Revolution was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the Communist
government of the Peoples Republic of Hungary, lasting from 23 October until 10
November 1956. The U.S. propaganda campaign (mostly the Radio Free Europe broadcasts) have
often been accused of encouraging the people to revolt against their Communist masters,
and worse, leading them to believe that U.S. military aid was on the way. This became such
a sensitive point that there were numerous official inquires dedicated to determining
exactly what was said to the Hungarians and when it was said.

Yesterday

This Russian-language Cold War training leaflet was made by U.S. troops in
conjunction with the German 800th PSV (Psychological Defense) Battalion. The front depicts
two Russian soldiers with the girlfriends and the text:

Yesterday

On the back of the leaflet the two Russian soldiers have disappeared and only the
girls remain. The text is:

Today, tomorrow, and then how long?

This ends our brief review of the 5th Loudspeaker and leaflet Company from 1951 to
1955. We often write of the wartime exploits of propaganda units in the front lines. Every
now and then it is good to look at the units that were not sent to a war zone but were
trained and ready to deploy when called upon.

In the past 5 decades this unit has appeared, disappeared, and appeared again. The
Company was re-designated on 24 June 1961 as the 5th PSYWAR Company, and on 25 June 1965
as the 5th PSYOP Battalion. The Battalion was inactivated on 20 June 1975 in Germany, then
re-designated on 30 December 1975 as the 5th PSYOP Group and allotted to the Army Reserve.
It was re-designated on 18 September 1990 as Headquarter and Headquarters Company, 5th
PSYOP Group. The Group was deactivated on 15 September 1994, then re-designated on 18
November 2003 as Headquarters, Headquarters and Service Company, 5th PSYOP Battalion, and
allotted to the Regular Army. The battalion was formally activated on 16 October 2004 at
Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

The author would like to hear from other members of the 5th Loudspeaker &
Leaflet Company and members of other units that are seldom mentioned in psychological
warfare articles. Kindly contact the author
at sgmbert@hotmail.com.